


Marble: Episode 2-Empire City

by alabastergiant



Series: Marble [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Original Character(s), Swearing, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 11:41:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19905139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alabastergiant/pseuds/alabastergiant
Summary: I may have made new friends, but I've still got a few secrets I keep from them. And a few of them are about to force their way up and put my friendships, and my friends themselves, in danger.





	Marble: Episode 2-Empire City

“And that’s why humans have sex,” I turned around and erased the diagrams I had drawn on the whiteboard I had used in giving the Crystal Gems a lecture on human anatomy and biological functions in. Amethyst had already known it, but had attended anyways, in order to watch Pearl’s horrified reaction. Pearl had not disappointed. Garnet had sat there, absorbing every detail. At least, I thought she had absorbed every detail. I couldn’t figure her out. I erased the diagrams just in time, as it turned out, as Steven walked down the stairs into the room.  
“Hey guys. How are you doing?” Steven rubbed his eyes and walked over to the kitchen to prepare himself breakfast. Garnet and Amethyst walked over to join him. Pearl got up to follow them, but I grabbed her by the shoulder.  
“Hey, I need to go to my van and sleep, or I won’t be able to keep up my form for much longer. Could you cover for me? Just make sure no one is worried about my sudden disappearance,” I whispered to her. I felt I could trust her to keep the others from worrying.  
“Huh? Oh yeah,” Pearl still looked like she had just been flashed by a nudist ghost.  
“Thanks. See you later,” I ran off and jumped into the back of my van and laid out on the mattress and let my concentration relax. I could feel my pointy nose collapse and my flesh shrink until you could see my bones and teeth below it. My eyes sunk into their sockets and my fingernails grew until they were more claws than they were fingernails, and my teeth sharpened to points. This form was much easier than the one I kept up to prevent people from being scared of me. I needed to rest and relax. I let sleep overtake me.

...2 hours later…

I sat bolt upright. There was someone outside my van, peeking in the back windows. I grabbed the semi-automatic that I keep under my pillow, flicked off the safety and threw open the doors, only to find that Pearl had been peeking in. I flicked the safety on and stuck it back under my pillow. I quickly concentrated on my false form, putting up the facade before she could see under it. I saw what I thought was Steven and a girl in a giant, pink bubble rolling down the street. I dismissed it, because it clearly was a hallucination caused by my sleep deprivation.  
“What the fuck Pearl?! Why are you peeking in my van while I’m sleeping?! I almost shot you!”  
“I, uh, I, uh, you see, you said that you wouldn’t be able to keep your form. I needed to make sure you were okay,” she blushed and gave me a grin that clearly was meant to keep me from realizing she was lying. She would have done better without it.  
“You’re lying. Whether it’s a direct lie, or one of omission, I don’t care. Tell me what you were really doing looking into my van.”  
Pearl sighed, “I was telling the truth, I was checking on you to make sure you were okay, but when I looked, you weren’t there. I didn’t know what to do.”  
I rubbed the bridge of my nose. I had hoped to do this on my terms, to all the Crystal Gems at once, and after a few years of knowing them. I closed the back door to my van and opened up my room, “Get in.”   
Pearl nervously stepped into my room.  
“What did you see?” I demanded.  
“I don’t know. I looked in and saw something humanoid, something that looked like you, but didn’t? I didn’t know what to do, because you had said you were in there and I couldn’t see you.”  
If I could think fast, I could convince her that there was nothing wrong. Every part of me wanted to tell her the truth, to tell her I was a monster, but I couldn't. I had upheld this lie for too long to fall apart now. At least I wouldn’t have to straight up lie, just a lie of omission. It hurt every part of me to do it, but I had to.  
I let out a sigh, “That was me, under my blanket.”  
“But wouldn’t that make you look bigger? You definitely looked smaller.”  
“You can’t tell me you can see clearly through my windows. They’re tinted.”  
“That’s true, I guess. I just thought it looked like someone else.”  
“It’s okay. I got the tinted windows exactly for that purpose.”  
“Oh, what about keeping up your form?”  
I could feel my muscles tense. I forced myself to relax, “I just meant I was stressed and need to relax. If I got more stressed, I wouldn't be able to keep going the way I’m going much longer. Sleeping is an excellent way for me to do that.”  
“Oh. That makes sense. I’ll let you get ba…” Pearl was interrupted by an explosion coming from the beach.  
I called up my weapons racks, grabbed a handgun, grabbed Pearl’s hand, and ran for the beach. When we arrived at the beach, we found two men fighting Garnet. The men had clearly driven up in their car and opened fire. There was a crater next to where Garnet was standing. One of the men was loading a bazooka and the other was trying to use his assault rifle to keep Garnet at a distance. Garnet was effectively using her gauntlets to ward off the bullets. The bazooka guy finished loading and fired at Garnet. I shot the rocket, causing it to explode well before it reached its intended target. No one could hear my gunshot over the ruckus the assault rifle was making.  
“What the hell?!” The one with the bazooka looked around for the reason he missed. I concentrated on making myself as large as possible without ripping my clothing. The effort of doing this,combined with my sleep deprivation, turned out to be too much. I saw the world go dark.  
When I awoke, the first thing I saw was my clawed hand in on the ground in front of my face. The fight was still happening on the beach. I stood up and I felt my combat fatigues, now several sizes too large, slip off of me. I didn’t care. I had to protect Beach City from these maniacs.   
I dashed up behind the one with the bazooka, wrapped my hand around the back of his head and slammed it against the car door. The other man turned to see his ally collapse while a black and white mummy without the wrappings stood over him. He dropped his gun and took off. I leapt over the car, and gave chase. He quickly dodged into an alleyway. When I followed him, he was gone. There wasn’t a sign of him anywhere. I spun on my heel, ready to use every resource I had in my van to track this bastard down, when I spotted Pearl.  
Her eyes were somehow larger than they normally were, her mouth was practically scraping the floor, and she was pointing at me. I had been through this plenty of times before. She was going to be shocked at my monstrous appearance, then angry I lied to her, then, if I was lucky, she would forgive me years later. I wasn’t going through this again, not with her. I pushed past her, and stormed my way to my van.  
I collapsed climbed into my van, closed the doors, and collapsed onto the mattress. I was going to finish catching up on sleep, and leave.

...6 Hours Later…

I woke up and stretched. I peered out the windshield and back windows for any sign of the Crystal Gems. There were none to be found. I climbed into the driver’s seat, buckled myself in, turned on the van and headed out of town.  
“So, where are we headed?” a deep and calm voice came from the passenger seat when I reached city limits.  
I slammed on the breaks and whirled to find Garnet sitting next to me, as if we were driving to the corner store for bread and milk. With how distracted I was, I wasn’t surprised I hadn’t noticed her. I bared my teeth in a snarl, my voice a deep and raspy abomination, “I am leaving before I get chased out of town again. You are staying here and protecting Beach City like you have always done. I am going to track down some gem monsters and freeze them like I always do. You are going to forget that I ever existed, just like everyone fucking else who has ever seen me like this.” I held up my claws to indicate what I meant.  
“That’s going to be harder than you might think. I have a long memory.”  
“I’m sure you’ll manage it. For humans, they usually die, and after a while, I fade into myth. You won’t die, you’ll just stick around, and with all that’s going on in your life, I won’t be important. I’ll simply cease to exist in your mind.”  
“Why would you do that?”  
“Aaaargh!” I roared at her, “Because you’re surrounded by strangeness and I’ll be just another person to pass through your consciousness! You have an Amethyst, which I have never seen before, the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen, and a human Gem hybrid running around you on a regular basis! You have two gems! The only thing unusual about me is I’m ugly.”  
“I’ve never seen a Gem that knows so much about humanity before.”  
“I’m sure that if Pearl put her mind to it, she could learn everything there is to know about humanity. From sex to who built Stonehenge. She really is the whole package,” I mumbled the last sentence to myself.  
“I’m sure Pearl would be glad to hear you think so,” Garnet’s calm demeanor infuriated me like no one had in a very long time.  
“Don’t you get it?! Pearl won’t hear that because I’m leaving! I can’t stay! Everyone would just be afraid of me!”  
“No humans saw you except the one that got away.”  
“And I’m sorry for letting that happen, but everywhere I go, I’m hunted. I should have known that something like that would happen eventually. The only thing that surprises me in the least is that they appeared so soon. I thought I had covered my tracks. I must be slipping up.”  
“Why would anyone hunt you?”  
“Because I’m a monster. I’m a walking corpse that leaves corpses in its wake.”  
“You kill humans?”  
“I haven’t killed anything except for the plants in the food I eat for about 5 years now, but that doesn’t mean much when I’m followed by people that do.”  
“Wouldn’t it be easier to stop them if you have a team?”  
“Every time I work with someone else, they just end up hurt or dead. Besides, you would just slow me down.”  
“I’m pretty fast.”  
“I’ll admit that. You did block bullets with those gauntlets of yours, and I’m not going to pretend to understand how you did that, but I’m not going to let that make me stay. I’m leaving. You can get out of the van, or you can come with.”  
To my frustration, Garnet silently buckled herself in. I turned on my police scanner and started driving.

...24 hours later…

“Welcome to Empire City. If I can lose you anywhere, it’s here,” I pulled up in front of a decent hotel and parked. I concentrated on one of my human disguises, a muscular, black man in a yellow hoodie and black cargo jeans. I grabbed a duffle bag I had packed with human clothes, a couple books, a police scanner, and several knives, walked into the lobby, followed closely by Garnet, and approached customer service.  
“I’d like to rent a room for two,” my voice was a very strong bass.  
The old lady looked over her horn rimmed glasses at me and said, “Tell someone who cares.”  
I looked around and saw someone else on the other end of the “desk.” I walked over to them and asked for a room with two beds for two. I said my name was Luke Cage when asked and got the key for a room on the fifth floor. When I arrived there, the room had hideous pink walls, and a carpet with equally hideous floral designs. I threw my bag onto the bed closest to the window and splayed myself out next to it, “You know Garnet, you can sleep too. You don’t need to be a freak of nature in order to.”  
Garnet shrugged and laid down on the other bed and quickly was snoring. I thought about using this as an opportunity to sneak away, but I decided that sleeping was a better idea. I could sneak away later, but shapeshifting takes up a lot of energy.

...8 hours later…

I stretched and looked over to see if Garnet was still there. She was laying in her bed reading one of the books I had brought with me. I squinted to read the title from across the room. It was Sun Tzu’s Art of War.  
“Did you know I helped him write that? I even used to have the original transcript, but it got burned when the building I was sniping from got burned down in World War Two. Damned flamethrowers are annoying.”  
“I didn’t know that. You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”  
I smiled, “Are you gonna stab me with a spear?” I quickly realized I was being friendly with someone I was going to try to ditch later. I shrugged. No harm in that, “You want to see the Statue of Freedom? It’s one of the many stops I always make when in town.”  
“Sure.”  
“We’re taking a taxi, though. My van is too big to fit in the parking garage at the port.

...Half an hour later…

“Welcome to the Statue of Freedom!” I threw my arms open to the giant, red, steel woman with her torch raised.  
“That’s a nice poem,” Garnet read the poem inscribed in the plaque installed in the base of the statue.  
“It’s ‘The New Colossus’ by Emma Lazarus. It was written for a fundraiser to build this.”  
“Did you help write this too?” Garnet joked.  
I laughed, “I was too busy hunting Gem monsters to even consider it. Plus I could never have made anything like it. I’m not nearly creative enough.”  
“You certainly seemed creative when you talked about designing your van a few days ago.”  
“That’s a machine of war. It’s a science. Creativity has little to do with it. It’s involved, but minimally. I’m not very good with art. I can tell you the history behind it, the name of the author, the influences on it, how many people were killed over it, but I can’t make it.”  
“If Pearl can learn about humans, you can learn about art,” Garnet’s logic was annoying.  
“I’d rather learn about Gems. For instance, how long can we live?”  
“We can’t die from age. We can take damage and die from that, but not from age.”  
“That explains a lot. Do we have to breathe? If not, I’m gonna have to put my scuba gear up for sale online.”  
“No, we don’t.”  
“Huh. Well, I know what I’m doing later. Want to head to the top of the statue? The view is beautiful,” I headed to the stairs to the platform at the top of the statue.  
“Sure.”  
When we got to the top of the stairs, I walked to one side of the viewing platform, and Garnet went to the other. When I got out of view of Garnet, I quickly ran down the stairs and onto the ferry off the island. When I got on the shore, I rented a bike, knowing that the rush hour traffic would slow down anyone trying to take a car, and that anyone that didn’t know that would try to take a taxi.   
I charged into the hotel room to grab my bag and get out of there. I found Garnet laying in her bed, reading Art of War again.  
“How did you get here before me? You weren’t on the ferry, and I took a bike! Your taxi shouldn’t have made it halfway here yet! Did you fly?”  
“Something like that.”  
I rubbed my face with my palm, “What do you mean? You know what, nevermind. I shouldn’t have expected a straightforward answer from you. I’m going to put my scuba gear up for sale.”   
I walked down to the stairs to the first floor and walked into the office space. I booted up one of the computers and logged into my Doug’s List account. I listed my scuba gear. I spent the rest of the day watching stupid television shows. I found the one about sad breakfast foods, and it really confused me. It didn’t take me long to shift it to a different show about a bunch of jerks on an island.  
“Why are they keeping that guy in the group? He’s obviously going to betray them when it suits him. If they want to survive, they should get him out,” I questioned the tv from my position, lying upside down on the bed.  
“It’s a show. All they want is drama. Logic isn’t something you are going to find,” Garnet showed a surprising amount of insight into the human world.  
“How do you know that?”  
“You explained it to Pearl earlier and I overheard.”  
“So, you eavesdropped on me and still expect me to not try to ditch you? That’s logical.”  
“I don’t think it really makes a difference.”  
“You have a point,” I pointed to her and let my arm flop down beside my head. I continued flipping channels for a while. After a couple hours, I got an email from a potential customer for my scuba gear.  
“Hey Garnet. I’m going to go talk to this potential customer. I don’t suppose you would stay here and let me leave?” I stood up and grabbed my keys, Garnet followed a respectful, yet short distance behind me. She hopped into the passenger seat when I unlocked the door. I drove off to the meeting place.  
“This is where the meeting is,” I got out and looked at the street corner, covered in market stalls “I think I better pack a few more knives than I normally do.”  
“That would be a good idea.” Garnet nodded.  
I grabbed my bag of scuba gear and stood on the corner. The customer was supposed to meet me here. I waited for about five minutes, then I heard the sound of a gun cocking. In one fluid motion, I spun around, drew a knife from the back of my belt, and threw it. I found the man I had let escape at Beach City, combat shotgun in hand, choking, blood leaking out of his throat, my knife in his windpipe.  
I turned to run from the murder I had just committed, but I found four men with shotguns identical to that the corpse behind me held. Once again, I let my form drop. The men took a step back. I grinned.  
“What’s the matter boys? Don’t wanna play?” I drew another knife and leapt forward and thrust the knife to the hilt in one of the men’s armpits. I flicked it around, spraying blood in all directions. He dropped his gun and screamed. I hit his nose with a flat palm, killing him instantly. When his corpse hit the ground, I was surrounded by men with shotguns trained on my gem. They knew what they were doing, I couldn’t get out of this, I’d just have to as many of them down with me as I could.  
A figure flashed behind two of them, and they fell to the ground with a shout. Garnet stood over them, gauntlets raised. I smiled. Seeing her knock the two men unconscious shook me out of my full thrown battle rage, and I remembered I didn’t have to kill them. I pointed my knife, still dripping blood at the last remaining man.   
“Drop it.” Needless to say, he complied. “Now, tell me who you’re working for.”  
“You’ll never get anything from me. We already know what you are, and that you won’t stop until humanity is gone. We won’t let you do that.”  
“First, you just told me all I need to know. Second, we,” I indicated to both Garnet and myself, “are also protecting humanity. You should recognise me.” I focused on one of my many disguises. A tall, lanky, white man with curly black hair and a matching mustache in a US Army general’s uniform.  
“General Montoya, sir!” The man stood at attention and saluted me.  
“At ease, soldier,” I waved at him casually, “I hadn’t realized that the Anti-Gem Taskforce was active. I thought I left specific instructions that until an invasion was confirmed, you were to remain inactive and stay at base.”  
“You did, sir, but then the new president decided to ignore your instructions.”  
“Damn it. I should have known he’d do something stupid like this. Go back to base with these two,” I kicked the unconscious ones, “and tell General Fizzik the wind has died in the willows. He’ll know what to do.”  
“Yessir.” He grabbed his unconscious compatriots and ran to a jeep in the alleyway. He buckled them in, and drove off.  
I turned to Garnet, “I know I have a lot to explain, but I’d rather only do it once, and considering that I have been trying for a long time to not kill, I just proved that I’m going to need some help to control myself. So, how about we head back to Beach City and I explain myself once?”


End file.
